Previously in Ruth, we met a woman named Naomi. After famine devastated her land, she journeyed with her husband and two sons to Moab. Some time later her husband died.
She raised her sons all alone in a foreign land. They eventually married, and soon after, they too, also died.
Naomi was heartbroken. One of her daughters-in-law, Ruth, made a striking commitment of grace to Naomi. They returned to Judah together.
Throughout chapter one, Naomi demonstrates bitterness. Ruth demonstrates grace.
In chapter two, Ruth decides to go gleaning. Gleaning was a practice in ancient Israel. It was required by the laws of Moses. Any farmer had to allow widows, foreigners, and impoverished people onto the farm at the end of the day to pick over what was left after the paid harvesters went home.
Ruth happened to go to the farm owned by Boaz, who by coincidence was a distant relative of her late husband.
Ruth was not content with simple gleaning; she boldly asked for two special favors:
First, she asked to glean on the heels of the reapers, something that wasn't allowed. Normally, the gleaners had to wait till the end of the day. Once the reapers went home, the gleaners could go out and harvest dropped grain. Ruth didn't want that. She wanted to be in the fields before the reapers went home. She wanted the first chance at the dropped grain... which by the way represents a bold and shameless pursuit of grace.
Her second special favor was to be able to glean among the sheaves. That meant the place where the harvested bundles of grain were stored. Basically, the processing plant for harvested grain. That's off limits for gleaners. But that didn't stop Ruth. A bold, audacious, gutsy pursuit of grace.
When she asked for these two favors, the boss wasn't around. The foreman couldn't authorize all that. So there she is, standing there by the little canopy for the workers, waiting. At long last the owner shows up. His name is Boaz.
And we pick it up in Ruth 2:4.
"Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, 'The LORD be with you!' And they answered him, 'The LORD bless you!' Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, 'Whose young woman is this?' So the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered and said, 'It is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. And she said, "Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves." So she came and has continued from morning until now, though she rested a little in the house.'" (Ruth 2:4-7)
So there you see Boaz, the one who owns the field.
You see the foreman, who couldn't give special permission.
And you see Ruth ask for super-gleaning privileges, on the heels of the reapers and among the sheaves.
Now, Boaz speaks to Ruth.
"Then Boaz said to Ruth, 'You will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women. Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.'" (Ruth 2:8-9)
Look at that. He just granted her first request: "go after them" (same Hebrew word, on their heels).
But there's more. She not only gets early access privileges (grace), she also gets water privileges (let's just call that amazing grace). Ruth gets it. Look at what she says:
"So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, 'Why have I found favor [grace] in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?'" (Ruth 2:10)
The reason I say that Ruth gets it is because she uses a very meaningful word.
She says, "Why have I found favor in your sight?"
That word, "favor" translates one of the two top words in the Bible (the Old Testament Hebrew) that means grace. Why have I found grace in your sight?
Nobody owes anything to Ruth, and she knows it. She has no rights to anybody's kindness. Grace is shown only to those who acknowledge themselves to have no rights to it.
PRINCIPLE: Under Grace, God can never be in anybody's debt. Grace means God doesn't owe you. If God gave you something good because you deserved it, it would be called a PAYCHECK, not a BLESSING.
"Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt." (Romans 4:4)
And I am here to tell you today that God is not a business owner handing out paychecks based on job performance.
And this is exactly what this place in the Bible is all about.
